Mayor casts doubt over IR laws threat

The Mayor of Moree Plains, John Tramby, says it would be hard for the New South Wales Government to prosecute local councils who opt to come under Commonwealth industrial relations (IR) laws.

Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca has indicated the State Government will prosecute any local councils who opt out of the state system in favour of the federal WorkChoices laws.

Councillor Tramby says his council has received advice that it is a trading corporation and does not come under state laws.

He says while councils are responsible for roads rates and rubbish, they also operate under user-pays guidelines.

"Unless we separate our two operations and have two operations independently we are deemed a corporation. Not only that, the water supply and sewage are a user-pays system that operate under a corporation. There's a lot of aspects of local government that's user-pays," he said.

Moscow's words and actions — including the alleged poisoning of a former spy — are not the results of random aggression but rather fall into distinct patterns that can help us anticipate Russia's next moves under Vladimir Putin.